EU meddling

[Porker]

From today's Times. Comments welcomed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 350454.ece

Motorists are to be forced to change the way they drive to help car manufacturers to meet strict new emission targets, the European Union announced yesterday.
All new cars will be fitted with devices that tell drivers when to change gear, what speeds to drive at and even when to pump up their tyres.
The introduction of new technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ordered by Brussels yesterday, could add more than £2,000 to the price of a typical family car, manufacturers said.
But the European Union said this would be offset by a reduction in fuel bills. Brussels also dismissed industry claims that the plans put up to 12 million European jobs at risk.
The EU announced legislation to force manufacturers to sell cars that produce lower levels of greenhouse gas after they failed to meet voluntary targets.
Green groups criticised the Commission for backing away from its original plans for a much lower target for CO2 emissions in the face of fierce lobbying from the German car industry. Commissioners insisted that a legal target of 130g of CO2 per km for new cars by 2012, combined with a further 10g/km reduction from biofuels and extra measures such as air-conditioning standards, represented the toughest regulatory approach in the world.
But they agreed that drivers should share responsibility for reducing the damage caused by cars. Motorists had to be discouraged from buying gas-guzzlers. They also should be encouraged to drive in a more sensible way.
So new cars will have compulsory electronic stability control and emergency braking systems, with warning lights telling drivers when to change gear efficiently and alerting them to low tyre pressure.
The range of measures to try to change driver behaviour were proposed by a group set up by Gunter Verheugen, the German industry commissioner, to take the pressure off manufacturers from having to meet the EU’s environmental targets through engine technology alone.
Carmakers argue that they would be doing much better at meeting green targets if it was not for the changing demands of consumers and regulators.
Ivan Hodac, the general secretary of ACEA, the European car manufacturers’ association, said: “People require more comfortable cars and since people are becoming taller and a little bit heavier, cars are also higher and a little bit heavier.”
He said that green targets had been missed partly through incessant demands for more safety features such as airbags, which also made cars heavier and less fuel-efficient.
Another technology that could help to cut emissions is known as “stop-go”, when the car switches off at traffic lights or in a stationary queue, turning on again when the accelerator is pressed. Mr Hodac said that so far, experiments with this approach had not worked well enough to go into mass production in Europe.
The measures will apply to all cars sold in the European Union, including those made in Japan, the US and China.
But no decision has been made on whether the legislation should apply across the board or whether each manufacturer will be set its own CO2 targets — a move that is certain to be contested by makers of large cars such as Audi and BMW during a consultation process that could last a year.
Mr Verheugen, who is seen as a defender of his country’s huge carmaking interests and who was instrumental in reducing the target, gave warning yesterday that the brunt of legislation could fall on the worst offenders, to avoid squeezing the makers of small and medium-sized cars out of business.
Reducing the EU’s 41,000 annual road deaths is another priority, with compulsory daytime use of headlights likely from 2009. National governments will be urged to link road tax more closely to CO2 emissions and carmakers will be asked to change the way they advertise.
The proposals will be debated by the European Parliament before going to heads of government for a final decision.
MEPs are bracing themselves for a ferocious lobbying campaign from carmakers.
Guiding lights
- Warning lights will tell drivers when to change gear and when they are not driving at the optimum speed for fuel efficiency
- An alarm will advise when tyre pressure is too low
- Emergency braking systems will deter excessive use of brakes/accelerator
- “Stop-go” technology will switch off an engine at traffic lights or in a stationary queue. Engines will turn on again when accelerator pressed

[James]

Lets just hope they dont start tampering with cars already made or make it law that we all have to have these systems fitted to our cars. It is only going to be a matter of time before driving is nothing like what it is today and relativley automatic. I just wonder how long it will be.

[7db]

Driving a non-homologated car is looking smarter and smarter by the day.

Provided the exemptions remain in place...

[James]

Does the Ariel Atom fall under this category? Might consider a second hand one in 4 years once mine is paid off.

[MiniClubmanEstate]

Well they're NOT fitting these devices to my Mini! I like driving.

It would be impossible to fit these devices to a classic car as the fuel, electrics, engine, chasis and actualy the whole car would have to be changed.
What driving enthusiasts have to to is buy a car they love and maintain it for life, or you'll have a computer to answer to.

[James]

Thats exactly it - how likely is it that they will enforce everyone to do this. Can you imagine the teething problems and loopholes. Maybe this will be just for new cars or a future plan, I really cant see how they are going to ensure everyone has it done, when I say "it" I also mean generally, as in this "GPS chip + letterbox fine" theory I have.

[TripleS]

Don't get me started: the sooner we dissociate ourselves from this lunacy, the better. I've got a feeling that if the UK declares war on the rest of Europe, the good old USA will back us.(But not before May, please; don't want my Nürburgring trip upset).
Seriously, I'm glad I'm reaching the end of my driving career.
Cheers, Chris.

Aye, wot 'e said! Balls to 'em.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[7db]

Does the Ariel Atom fall under this category? Might consider a second hand one in 4 years once mine is paid off.

Yes. But why get one of those when you can get a Radical?

[MGF]

Are people opposed to any attempt to reduce the level of CO2 emissions in general?

Or is it that controlling consumer behaviour is unacceptable?

It appears that the manufacturers have asked for the authorities to start on the consumer in order to reduce the pressure on them to develop technology to achieve lower emissions.

[Gareth]

Perhaps in time we'll think that the decision to use catalytic converters, instead of going down the lean burn route, was a mistake.

[James]

I was thinking about the supercharged atom, 0 - 62 in 2.9 seconds - also prefer the looks slightly, the radical only comes in yellow and red doesnt it? And it does sit a bit low...

[Porker]

MGF wrote:

"Are people opposed to any attempt to reduce the level of CO2 emissions in general?

Or is it that controlling consumer behaviour is unacceptable?

It appears that the manufacturers have asked for the authorities to start on the consumer in order to reduce the pressure on them to develop technology to achieve lower emissions."

To take the points in order and answering from my perspective:

i) I do not believe that anthropogenic (man-made) global warming is a genuine phenomenon, and hence I believe it wrong to make people do anything to combat a problem which does not exist.

ii) It appears to me that that the term "Controlling consumer behaviour" could be applied to a very wide spectrum of measures. As a phrase it sounds pretty innocuous, but how would people feel if we tried to influence consumer behaviour by, for example, requiring that every journey outside your own county of residence required pre-trip approval from some governing body? So, to answer the question, I believe that the minimum level of interference possible should be the one adopted, and this sounds far from that.

iii) The manufacturers are simply trying to reduce the impact of the meddling on them. Any commercial organisation would seek to do the same. That doesn't alter the fact that the meddling was initiated by a body of people that managed to get into their current positions by promising to make inter-country trade easier. The name changes from "European Common Market" through "European Community" to "European Union" tell the story fairly effectively.

P.

[SammyTheSnake]

If the aim is to cut emissions of CO2 by modifying driving habits, surely the better way would be to just put up the price of petrol / diesel / not biofuels and provide lots of information for drivers on how to use less fuel?

Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny

[7db]

They'll be doing that too, Sammy.

[SammyTheSnake]

They'll be doing that too, Sammy.

ITYM they've been doing that for decades.

Either way, the proposed new measures don't look like they'll actually achieve anything.

On the other hand, newer cars are starting to come with tyre pressure indicators anyway, which I think is a good thing from a safety point of view.

Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny